Executive summary

The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has recently released the long-awaited waste policy review and accompanying action plan.  Whilst the content of the review has received a mixed reaction from stakeholders, the details should be properly considered as they outline the Government's intentions in the waste sector. 

The review brought forth three key objectives for the Government in relation to the waste industry:

  • Community acceptance of waste infrastructure
    In the review, the Government set out a range of measures that it argues will promote community acceptance of waste infrastructure, including through local communities benefiting from hosting waste infrastructure.  It remains to be seen whether these measures will prove successful, or whether the successful completion of waste infrastructure projects will be hampered by a lack of centralised control. 
  • Reduction of government intervention
    The Government is looking to reduce direct intervention in the waste sector (including through a declining use of PFI credits), but wishes to encourage investment by reducing the commercial barriers to the sector.  To fill part of the funding gap that results from this policy, it is enlisting the Green Bank and "green" infrastructure funds.  However, a large shortfall remains that will see local authorities forced to rely on prudential borrowing to complete projects – projects that must be completed to meet the challenging (and unchanged) EU targets for reducing landfill use.
     
  • Greater investment in "new" technology
    One of the central themes identified by the review will not be a new concept – the reference to greater investment in "new" technology and the need to encourage more third party investment in it.  The Government proposes that new recovery technologies (such as anaerobic digestion (AD)) should be given distinct incentivisation schemes, but it has not identified what form these schemes will take. 
     

The above is a brief summary of the key objectives that emerged from the waste policy review.  For our full report on the implications of the review, please click here

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

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The original publication date for this article was 26/08/2011.